Vocabulary

Europeans Explorethe East

Caravel

• A type of, small, fast, Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15th–17th centuries.

Astrolabe

• An instrument used to make astronomical measurements, typically of the altitudes of celestial bodies, and in navigation for calculating latitude. It consists of a disk with the edge marked in degrees and a pivoted pointer.

Treaty of Tordesillas

• Signed at Tordesillas, Spain, on 7 June 1494 and authenticated at Setúbal, Portugal. It divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands.